


The First Time

by zothehomo



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Bisexual Carl Grimes, Boys Kissing, Drunken Kissing, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Gay Male Character, M/M, One Shot, Questioning Sexuality, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 09:04:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13586805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zothehomo/pseuds/zothehomo
Summary: The first time he kisses a boy, he's drunk.





	The First Time

The first time he kisses a boy, he's drunk.

It's somewhere around midnight and he should be asleep but instead he's giggling and joking around with one of the newest arrivals. The boy has only been in Alexandria for a couple months and he's still awkward and hasn't really settled in yet, but he and Carl almost gravitated towards each other, being the only two teenage boys in the community and all now that Mikey is missing and Ron is dead. Enid doesn't seem to mind that her only friends are two boys, but Carl wouldn't doubt the fact that's she's hoping a girl her age turns up soon, just so she has someone to relate to.

His name is Jace. And it's only now, after a few bottles of alcohol, that he realises how _pretty_ Jace is.

He guesses that he's never really thought about it before. Like maybe his eye lingered on the other boy for a little too long and maybe he was always glancing over at him when he wasn't looking whenever they were in the same vicinity but he assumed that it was just because he cared about the other boy's wellbeing and wanted to make sure he was okay.

It's only now that he realises that he's been looking at him the same way he'd look at Enid back when he had a crush on her. The way he'd take in all of her features as if he was imprinting them in his memory forever so he wouldn't forget how attractive she was. He doesn’t do that anymore, they're better off as friends, but that doesn't stop her from being pretty. And sometimes he still does it, when they're alone in the woods reading comics together, sometimes he just glances over and takes her in. Not because he wants to be with her- he can just appreciate what she looks like. It's not like there's anyone else for him to look at anyway.

Well, until now at least. Jace is laughing at one of his own jokes, he does that a lot, and Carl loves his laugh. It's one of those contagious ones, and seconds later Carl is laughing too.

"I think- I think I'm a little drunk." Carl giggles.

Jace raises an eyebrow, "a little? You're one more drink away from being completely wasted."

Carl can't help but laugh again, "what about you? How many drinks will it take for you to get like that?"

"About three or four. I have a high tolerance, I'm not a lightweight like you." He shoves Carl playfully as he finishes his sentence.

Carl shoves him back, equally playful, and Jace laughs again and pushes him, making his hair fall into his face and cover his only eye.  Carl reaches up to brush it away but Jace beats him to it, carefully tucking the stray locks behind his ear. Carl looks up at him then, feeling his fingers linger on his cheek. They make eye contact, blue irises staring into green, and Jace's fingers brush against his cheek and slide down until they stop at his jaw, tilting it up slightly so if he were to lean in- _is he going to lean in? Is he going to kiss me? Oh god I've never kissed a boy before. I've only ever kissed two girls and one of them was Enid but she was only being nice and the other was Sophia but I don't really know whether or not to count that one because we were so young oh god he's leaning in -_ and then suddenly Jace's face is right next to his and their lips are touching and they're _kissing_.

It only lasts a few seconds, and then Jace is pulling away, and Carl looks shocked but that's only because his stomach is doing somersaults and _wow_ he didn't expect that to happen.

Jace clears his throat awkwardly after Carl says nothing, "I'm gay." He states. And then Carl realises that they've never actually talked about that before. Carl has talked about girls a couple times but Jace never did and now suddenly that makes sense.

"Oh." Carl says dumbly, unsure of how to react.

"Are you?" Jace asks.

Carl shakes his head immediately, there's nothing wrong with it, he just definitely isn't. He likes girls and he's kissed girls and he wants to marry a girl one day maybe, if he lives that long.

"I like girls." He replies.

Jace nods, chewing his lip thoughtfully "not boys too?"

And it's then that Carl frowns. Because he knew that you could like girls or you could like boys, he didn't know that you could like _both_. And he decides that he's gonna have to think about that because he knows that he likes girls but he also knows that he really wants Jace to kiss him again.

"I-I don't know." He answers honestly.

Jace nods again, "think about it?" He says, with a trace of hope in his voice.

Carl nods, because he will. And then, to avoid the awkward silence that will eventually settle, he speaks.

"Can you kiss me again?"

Jace smiles at him, and nods, and then he's leaning in and Carl wonders if the future conversation he'll eventually have with himself discussing who he likes and who he doesn't is going to be so difficult after all.


End file.
